It was a "bittersweet celebration" in the words of Tom Barrett, a retired Army sergeant and 17-year volunteer at the Franciscan Center on Maryland Avenue.Sister Ritamary Tan, O.S.F., agreed."With Sister MaryAnn's death, we lost some of our momentum," she said of the year of preparations for yesterday's 125th anniversary of the Mill Hill nuns, now known as the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore City.Addressing bishops, priests, nuns, lay volunteers, donors and other friends assembled for the 1 p.m. Mass at the Basilica of the Assumption on Cathedral Street, Sister Ritamary outlined the history and purposes of the Roman Catholic religious order, calling it "a generative people" and "a peasant community" that has known poverty, enrichment, discrimination, hatred, love, nurturing, death and rebirth since its founding by Mary Basil, a former Anglican sister, in the Mill Hill section of London in 1868.

Sister Irene Marshiano, a nun who offered sandwiches and coffee "with respect" at the Franciscan Center she founded 45 years ago, died of complications from diabetes Oct. 31 at her order's Clare Court Convent in Northeast Baltimore. She was 70. Born in New York City's Harlem and raised in the Bronx, she was the daughter of a Hertz rental car mechanic and a homemaker. After graduating from St. Helena's High School in the Bronx, she entered a Franciscan convent, but she soon experienced health problems and was asked to leave.

Sister Teresa Gilligan, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi and a retired educator, died of kidney failure Jan. 26 at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She was 78. Born Teresa Gilligan and raised in County Leitrim, Ireland, she entered the Franciscan Sisters of Mill Hill in England in 1943. She professed her vows in 1946 and took Mother Gerard as her religious name. She returned to her birth name in the 1970s. After being sent to her order's motherhouse on Maryland Avenue in 1947, she began her college studies at the old Mount St. Agnes College in Mount Washington, where she earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education in 1954.

John Andrew Moag Sr., a retired CSX executive who volunteered at St. Ignatius Roman Catholic Church and the Franciscan Sisters, died Tuesday from complications of a stroke at Gilchrist Hospice Care in Towson. The Blakehurst retirement community resident was 80. Born in Detroit and raised in Chicago, Mr. Moag was a 1949 graduate of St. Norbert High School in DePere, Wis. He served in the Army in Heidelberg, Germany, in internal affairs and, after being discharged in 1954, went to work in the mailroom of the Illinois Central Railroad in Chicago.

Sister Mary Gray, a founder of St. Elizabeth School in Northeast Baltimore and a former superior general of the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore, died of cancer Saturday at the Clare Court Convent near the school. She was 84. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she entered what became the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore when she was 22. She received the name Sister Mary Alexander and later used the name Mary. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the old Mount St. Agnes College in Mount Washington.

Sister Edith McLaughlin, a retired parochial school teacher and a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Philadelphia, died of dementia and vascular disease complications Thursday at her order's retirement home in Aston, Pa. She was 82. Born Edith McLaughlin in McKeesport, Pa., and raised near Patterson Park, she was a 1943 graduate of Catholic High School and worked as a clerk-typist at the Glenn L. Martin aircraft factory in Middle River. She entered the Franciscan Sisters of Philadelphia in 1945 and was initially known as Sister Mary Thomasita.

Sister Robertine Dobrowolski, a retired nurse and medical administrator, died Tuesday of cancer in Hamburg, N.Y. The former Canton resident was 81. Born Anna Dobrowolski in Baltimore and raised on South Streeper Street, she was a graduate of St. Casimir's Parochial School. She entered the Franciscan Sisters of St. Joseph at age 14, receiving a nursing degree from St. Mary's Hospital in Brooklyn, N.Y., and a master's degree in nursing administration from St. John's University in Jamaica, N.Y. In her 64 years of religious life, she held posts in Brooklyn, N.Y., Brazil, Cheektowaga, N.Y., and Danbury, Conn.

Sister Theodosia Reynolds, a longtime member of the Franciscan Sisters of Philadelphia, died of complications from a stroke Oct. 6 at St. Joseph Medical Center, where she had been a pharmacy worker and sacristan. She was 80. Born Moira Helen Reynolds in County Leitrim, Ireland, she entered the order in 1949 and taught at St. Katherine of Siena School in East Baltimore and St. Peter Claver in West Baltimore. For another year, she was a housekeeper at Mount St. Mary's Seminary in Emmitsburg.

Sister Antonine Powers, 76, St. Francis School teacherSister M. Antonine Powers, a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore for 59 years, died July 27 of a stroke while vacationing in Sitka, Alaska. She was 76.Born in Northampton, Mass., Sister Antonine taught at the St. Francis School for Special Education on Maryland Avenue for 25 years. She retired in 1986.Earlier, she taught elementary school for 20 years in Richmond and Norfolk, Va.; Wilmington, N.C.; and Harlem and East Meadows, N.Y.She received a bachelor's degree in education from Mount St. Agnes College in 1959.

Meredith M. Durham, 43, artist, school volunteer Meredith Millspaugh Durham, a Baltimore-born artist who became a museum and school volunteer in her adopted hometown of Chattanooga, Tenn., died at her mountaintop home on Christmas Eve after a yearlong battle with colon cancer. She was 43. Mrs. Durham came from a family with deep roots in Baltimore. She was a sixth-generation descendant of Samuel Kirk, who founded the silversmith firm of Samuel Kirk and Sons in 1815. She graduated in 1976 from Roland Park Country School, where she won the lacrosse team's Unsung Hero award.

Cora Barnes has a deep respect for the upbringing she received at the Baltimore orphanage she knew throughout her youth. She learned her algebra and Roman Catholic Latin hymns. She sang at midnight Masses and said her prayers. She also never forgot the love and friendships formed at the little-known institution. And now, nearly eight decades after she arrived at the orphanage, she returns weekly to its brick buildings set between Maryland Avenue and Howard Street. For the past 17 years, she has been a volunteer at what is now the Franciscan Center, where she sorts women's clothes and works actively with the poor and homeless.

Sister Edith McLaughlin, a retired parochial school teacher and a member of the Franciscan Sisters of Philadelphia, died of dementia and vascular disease complications Thursday at her order's retirement home in Aston, Pa. She was 82. Born Edith McLaughlin in McKeesport, Pa., and raised near Patterson Park, she was a 1943 graduate of Catholic High School and worked as a clerk-typist at the Glenn L. Martin aircraft factory in Middle River. She entered the Franciscan Sisters of Philadelphia in 1945 and was initially known as Sister Mary Thomasita.

Sister Mary Assisi Jackson, a longtime member of the Oblate Sisters of Providence and teacher, died Jan. 14 at Stella Maris Hospice in Timonium. She was 86. Mary Frances Jackson, who was born and raised in Baltimore, was the daughter of Arthur and Rose Jackson. She was educated by the Franciscan Sisters at their Maryland Avenue school. In 1942, she entered the Oblate Sisters of Providence. She professed her vows in 1945. From 1945 to 1947, she worked at St. Frances convent in Baltimore and then was named a prefect to the young boys who were residents of the Guardian Angels Home in Leavenworth, Kan. She returned to Baltimore in 1955 and was assigned to the convent at St. Pius V. She later taught religion and held posts in Minneapolis, Missouri, South Carolina, New Jersey, Connecticut and Alabama.

Sister Mary Gray, a founder of St. Elizabeth School in Northeast Baltimore and a former superior general of the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore, died of cancer Saturday at the Clare Court Convent near the school. She was 84. Born in Halifax, Nova Scotia, she entered what became the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore when she was 22. She received the name Sister Mary Alexander and later used the name Mary. She earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in history from the old Mount St. Agnes College in Mount Washington.

Unable to work as she cared for her dying brother and raised her adopted granddaughter, Deborah Reddy was in desperate need of money and a place to live. The 54-year-old worked as a baby sitter, earning just $14,000 a year. She found a place in a new low-income development at a renovated Franciscan convent near the old Memorial Stadium. On her first visit there recently, as she passed under the statue of Saint Elizabeth and walked through the front door, her memory was suddenly jolted.

From 1917 to 1960, the handsome brick building on Ellerslie Avenue was an orphanage for African-American children. Today, after a $7 million renovation, it's again providing a home for children - this time, residences for families adopting multiple siblings. It's also a home for people with disabilities and for aging members of the Catholic order that has owned the 10-acre property for decades, the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi. Clare Court is the name of the multigenerational community that has been created inside the shell of the old St. Elizabeth's Home at 3725 Ellerslie Ave. in Ednor Gardens.

Mother Seton Academy, an experimental Roman Catholic middle school opened by six religious orders in September in a vacant building of St. Patrick's Parish on Broadway, will expand this fall and relocate four blocks south to a larger church building in Fells Point.The move to the former convent of St. Stanislaus Parish on South Ann Street was made possible by a grant of $75,000 from the Abell Foundation, Xaverian Brother Arthur Caliman, the academy's board chairman, said yesterday.The free school, which opened at St. Patrick's with 20 boys and girls in the sixth grade and a staff of six, will add a seventh grade and double the enrollment to 40 students.

Sister Mary Patricia McGrenra, O.S.F., who cared for neglected children and relied on the kindness of Baltimore police officers to help her do her work, died Friday of heart failure at the mother house of the Franciscan Sisters of Baltimore in Ednor Gardens. She was 94.Sister Patricia was born and reared in County Donegal, Ireland. She joined the order in 1920 in Mill Hill, England, and came to the United States six years later to minister to orphans in Wilmington, N.C.She worked in Norfolk and Richmond, Va., before coming to Baltimore in 1937 to work at St. Elizabeth's Home for children.

Sister Teresa Gilligan, a member of the Sisters of St. Francis of Assisi and a retired educator, died of kidney failure Jan. 26 at the University of Maryland Medical Center. She was 78. Born Teresa Gilligan and raised in County Leitrim, Ireland, she entered the Franciscan Sisters of Mill Hill in England in 1943. She professed her vows in 1946 and took Mother Gerard as her religious name. She returned to her birth name in the 1970s. After being sent to her order's motherhouse on Maryland Avenue in 1947, she began her college studies at the old Mount St. Agnes College in Mount Washington, where she earned a bachelor's degree in elementary education in 1954.